“Pritzker Prize-winning architect and high-tech architecture pioneer Richard Rogers has retired from Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners, the practice he founded in 1977. … He is perhaps best known for designing the Centre Pompidou in Paris, London’s Lloyd’s building, Millennium Dome and Heathrow Terminal Five. His two Stirling Prize-winning projects are Madrid’s Barajas Airport and a Maggie’s Centre in London.” – Dezeen
Blog
How Did A Removed Confederate Monument End Up At An African-American Museum?
The CEO chose to take it, that’s how. “Spirit of the Confederacy, a bronze sculpture of an angel holding a sword and palm branch, was removed from Sam Houston Park in June … and is now on display in the courtyard of the Houston Museum of African American Culture. ‘As an educational space, we wanted people to think about it and engage with it,’ said John Guess, the museum’s Chief Executive Officer.” – Hyperallergic
How Paris’s Châtelet Theatre Fired Its Artistic Director (Rudely)
“[Ruth] Mackenzie was sitting in her office when she learned to her astonishment that she had been sacked for ‘bullying’. She was even more shocked, when [general director Thomas] Lauriot dit Prévost, with whom she shared an office, insisted she leave immediately.” – The Guardian
Hobby Lobby/Museum Of The Bible Deal To Return Looted Antiquities Is Unfair To Iraq
“Exploitative and degrading” is how one Iraqi newspaper described the current draft Memorandum of Understanding between the Iraqi government and the Museum of the Bible along with the family-owned chain store that funds it. “The Daily Beast has consulted with experts in Iraqi archaeology, international law, and art crime about this document. Here are some of the problems they identified with it.” – The Daily Beast
BBC’s New Boss Will Look At Changing How BBC Is Funded
“The BBC has looked at whether the licence fee [paid by each household with a television] could ultimately be replaced with a new special income tax, based on the Swedish model for funding public service broadcasting according to two executives at the corporation, with a new funding model set to be one of the key issues facing incoming director general, Tim Davie.” – The Guardian
Aerosol Research Helps Get Vienna Philharmonic Back Onstage
“The Vienna Philharmonic was one of the first professional orchestras to return to rehearsals and performances since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it wouldn’t have been possible if they hadn’t carried out their own small research study into the way droplets disperse on stage while musicians play.” Reporter Eva Amsen looks at what exactly the orchestra and its scientists did. – Forbes
Indigenous Performers In Australia Struggle For Recognition As 21st-Century Artists
Audience demand for First Nations performing arts is growing. yet, aside from one superstar company (the dance troupe Bangarra), “many independent Indigenous dance and theatre artists are struggling for funding and autonomy, and fighting against stereotypical audience expectations and tokenistic programming decisions.” – The Guardian
New Documentary Examines $60 Million Art Fraud
For 15 years, Knoedler had procured and sold at least 40 fraudulent paintings – an astounding $60m of forged work attributed to such modern American masters as Mark Rothko, Jackson Pollock and Robert Motherwell. It was, according to Driven to Abstraction, a new documentary on the scandal, “the greatest forgery hoax ever of modern American art”. – The Guardian
How Choruses Are Figuring Out How To Sing Together
There are few answers about this disease. But the choral community has come together to figure out how 54 million people in America who sing in a chorus can do so safely. Choral leaders have developed software for online singing and created virtual choirs. Companies are inventing face masks that can be worn for singing. Several universities, including the University of Cincinnati, are conducting studies on the spread of aerosols while singing or playing instruments, and how it can be mitigated. – Cincinnati Business Journal
A New Shakespearean Theatre Recreation In Connecticut?
The theater in Stratford, Connecticut, modeled on Shakespeare’s Globe theater in London, burned down in January 2019 as the result of arson. The theater building had not hosted an indoor performance in decades, though the surrounding lawn has continued to be sacred ground for Shakespeare fans, with performances by a summertime Shakespeare Academy and local outdoor Shakespeare troupes as well as community festivals. – Hartford Courant